Worcester Sharks' Bracken Kearns OK with head hit

WORCESTER 
The league automatically will review Brandon Segal’s hit-to-the-head play on the Sharks’ Bracken Kearns late in the second period last night, but if Kearns’ opinion counts for much, there may not be any supplementary discipline.

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Kearns said. “I didn’t see him coming, and I think it was probably half my fault because I put myself in a vulnerable position and he was just finishing his check. I didn’t get my bell rung or anything. I’m fine.”

Kearns didn’t miss any ice time because of the play and wound up scoring a goal in the third period for Worcester.

First-goal blues
The Sharks are giving up way too many early goals. It happened again last night when Kris Newbury got one for the Whale just 1:24 after the opening faceoff.

That marked the fourth time this season Worcester has allowed a goal in the first two minutes of a game and the seventh time in 13 games overall it has given up a goal in the first 10 minutes. The Sharks have won just one of those seven games, Friday night against Portland.

“Everyone knows how important the first goal is,” coach Roy Sommer said. “When we score first, we’re 4-0. We’ve got to be more careful.”

Worcester has gone 195 games since one of its players recorded a hat trick. That is easily the longest active streak in the AHL, and perhaps the longest ever, although researching such a thing through 75 seasons would be virtually impossible.

The second-longest active streak belongs to Springfield, which has played 110 games since Kyle Wilson had a hat trick on Feb. 19, 2011. That happened in a 3-2 Falcons overtime victory at the DCU Center, of all places.

The Sharks’ last hat trick belongs to Dan DaSilva, who scored three times in Portland during a 5-2 Worcester victory up there on Feb. 14, 2010. Since then, Worcester has allowed four hat tricks, the most recent being Alexandre Picard’s in Wilkes-Barre last March 17. The Sharks lost that game, 4-1.

No Worcester player has recorded a hat trick on home ice in more than three years, or since P.J. Fenton had one on Feb. 28, 2009 in the Sharks’ 7-3 victory over Springfield. The home-ice drought has lasted for 133 games.

In the meantime, Worcester has had 39 two-goal games, including five each by Benn Ferriero, Brandon Mashinter and T.J. Trevelyan.

Not having a hat trick in any one season is not all that unusual for AHL teams. Nine failed to get one last year, including Calder Cup finalist Toronto and West Division champion Oklahoma City. Two seasons in a row, going on three, however, seems to be off the charts.

In all, Worcester players have recorded hat tricks only seven times in the franchise’s 488 games. Why might this be important? The Sharks are 7-0 in those games and 1-11-3 in the 15 games in which the opposition has had a hat trick.

14 were drafted
Fourteen players on the Sharks’ roster were NHL draft picks, including three first-rounders. James Sheppard was taken ninth overall by the Wild in 2006, Matt Pelech went 26th overall when the Flames chose him in 2005, and Petrecki was the 28th pick in 2007 by San Jose.

Jimmy Bonneau went the latest. He was 241st overall in 2003, chose by the Canadiens. Worcester has six players from the 2006 draft, including Sheppard, James Livingston, Jon Matsumoto and John McCarthy.

Shark Bites
Bonneau was out of the lineup and rookie Yanni Gourde back in last night. Otherwise, the injured list and scratch list remained the same as Friday night. … The Sharks finish their third straight 3-in-3 weekend with a 3 p.m. game today in Providence. Worcester won down there, 3-2, in its first visit this season. The Bruins also will be finishing a 3-in-3 weekend.